Gerontology
1800s: Martineau · Tocqueville · Marx · Spencer · Le Bon · Ward · Pareto · Tönnies · Veblen · Simmel · Durkheim · Addams · Mead · Weber · Du Bois · Mannheim · Elias Gerontology (/ˌdʒɛrənˈtɒlədʒi/ JERR-ən-TOL-ə-jee) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging.
[1][2][3][4] The field is distinguished from geriatrics, which is the branch of medicine that specializes in the treatment of existing disease in older adults.
Gerontologists include researchers and practitioners in the fields of biology, nursing, medicine, criminology, dentistry, social work, physical and occupational therapy, psychology, psychiatry, sociology, economics, political science, architecture, geography, pharmacy, public health, housing, and anthropology.
Dr. Lawton, a behavioral psychologist at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center, was among the first to recognize the need for living spaces designed to accommodate the elderly, especially those with Alzheimer's disease.
Some early pioneers, such as Michel Eugène Chevreul, who himself lived to be 102, believed that aging itself should be a science to be studied.
For example, the Census 2010 reported that there were approximately twice as many women as men living in the United States at 89 years of age (361,309 versus 176,689, respectively).
However, proportionately, the Northeast contains the largest percentage of adults aged 65 years and older (14.1%), followed by the Midwest (13.5%), the South (13.0%), and the West (11.9%).
Likewise, in the population aged 85 years and older, the West (42.8%) also showed the fastest growth and increased from 806,000 in 2000 to 1.2 million in 2010.
It is worth highlighting that Rhode Island was the only state that experienced a reduction in the number of people aged 65 years and older, and declined from 152,402 in 2000 to 151,881 in 2010.
In order for older adults to maintain morale in old age, substitutions must be made for lost roles.
Because of improved general health and prosperity in the older population, remaining active is more feasible now than when this theory was first proposed by Havighurst nearly six decades ago.
The activity theory is applicable for a stable, post-industrial society, which offers its older members many opportunities for meaningful participation.
On the flip side, some elders may insist on continuing activities in late life that pose a danger to themselves and others, such as driving at night with low visual acuity or doing maintenance work to the house while climbing with severely arthritic knees.
Additionally, disengagement leads to higher morale maintenance than if older adults try to maintain social involvement.
This theory is heavily criticized for having an escape clause—namely, that older adults who remain engaged in society are unsuccessful adjusters to old age.
[30] Gradual withdrawal from society and relationships preserves social equilibrium and promotes self-reflection for elders who are freed from societal roles.
According to this theory, older adults born during different time periods form cohorts that define "age strata".
Dramatic reductions in mortality, morbidity, and fertility over the past several decades have so shaken up the organization of the life course and the nature of educational, work, family, and leisure experiences that it is now possible for individuals to become old in new ways.
[33] According to this theory, which was developed beginning in the 1960s by Derek Price and Robert Merton and elaborated on by several researchers such as Dale Dannefer,[34] inequalities have a tendency to become more pronounced throughout the aging process.
[38] Studies of environmental gerontology indicate that older people prefer to age in their immediate environment, whereas spatial experience and place attachment are important for understanding the process.
Using theories such as therapeutic jurisprudence, jurisprudential scholars critically examined existing legal institutions (e.g. adult guardianship, end of life care, or nursing homes regulations) and showed how law should look more closely to the social and psychological aspects of its real-life operation.
[42] Other streams within jurisprudential gerontology also encouraged physicians and lawyers to try to improve their cooperation and better understand how laws and regulatory institutions affect health and well-being of older persons.
